A laser light beamed at the Moon takes 2.56 s to return after reflection at the Moon’ssurface. How much is the radius of the lunar orbit around the Earth?

To solve this problem, we need to use the speed of light and the time it takes for the light to travel to the moon and back.

Step 1: Understand the problem The problem states that a laser light takes 2.56 seconds to travel to the moon and back. We know that the speed of light is approximately 299,792 kilometers per second.

Step 2: Calculate the total distance First, we need to calculate the total distance the light traveled. We do this by multiplying the speed of light by the time it took for the light to travel.

Total distance = Speed of light * Time Total distance = 299,792 km/s * 2.56 s Total distance = 767,186.56 km

Step 3: Calculate the radius of the lunar orbit The total distance we calculated is actually the diameter of the lunar orbit (since the light traveled to the moon and back). The radius is half of the diameter. So, we divide the total distance by 2 to get the radius.

Radius = Total distance / 2 Radius = 767,186.56 km / 2 Radius = 383,593.28 km

So, the radius of the lunar orbit around the Earth is approximately 383,593.28 kilometers.